Hope
by tic tac toe 03
Summary: Set after 2x05. It wasn't the outright declaration of love but it was enought to give him hope. Set after 2x06. There was hope for those two yet she decided and knowing them there probably always would be. Branson/Sybil
1. Chapter 1

**Hope **

**Disclaimer: ****I own nothing but the slight deviation from the canon. **

**I've been desperate to write something for these two since the amazing season 2 started and so have finally managed to get this out after several other attempts and writers block. **

**Enjoy **

He was sitting on the step of the car, much the same as he had been on her last visit to the garage to tell him of her sister's imminent arrival. Only this time the newspaper was replaced with a single sheet of writing paper and the expression on his face was blank.

He hadn't noticed her arrival either. "Branson?" She cleared her throat feeling the butterflies rise in her stomach for some reason she did not want to evaluate. He looked up startled and then visibly winced as he saw who it was.

"Yes milady?" While his voice was so utterly him it was devoid of the passion he usually spoke with and his posture was slumped and defeated.

"Can you take Mary and me down to the hospital at five? Papa asked if I'd go with her to see Cousin Matthew." He nodded dropping his gaze back to the paper but it was clear to her that he wasn't reading the words scrawled on the page.

"You heard about William?" She continued on swallowing the lump in her throat at the thought of the tragedy that had befallen the house; they'd all seen one coming, after all they had remained untouched by the war for so long, but they'd still hoped, hoped so desperately.

"Hard not too; news flies fast around here." His tone was bitter now and she glanced down at him in surprise. While she knew his feelings towards the war he had never shown any anger towards those who had been injured and besides she was sure that he and William were or had been friends.

But there was no mistaking the hostile bite to his voice and she was momentary stunned before sighing heavily; he'd been in a foul mood for a while now and she was no better at handling it than she had been when it had arrived.

Sudden anger surged through her; they were all affected by the war and yet they didn't feel the need to snap everyone's head off the minute they opened their mouth, especially regarding something so tragic as the death of a someone they had both known well.

"I know you don't agree with the war but you could at least pretend that you care about those who are injured or dead." Her voice broke on the last word and she turned away feeling the anger leave her.

Without any sound to suggest movement from the bitter chauffeur she felt a handkerchief be pressed into her hand and she kept her back to him as she composed herself. "And you say we hide our feelings; is this proof enough that we have them." She snapped upon turning back round to face him; her anger not quite diminished as their conversation from yesterday came back to her.

She was expecting him to argue back, catch her by the hand or waist again and tell her how much he loved her or somewhere in the back of her mind she hoped for an apology.

She wasn't expecting to see him sitting hunched over with his head buried in his hands the paper lying innocently on the floor where it had fallen. "Branson?" Her anger completely died away and she dragged up a crate to sit on opposite him. "What's wrong?"

"My brother was jailed last month for opposing conscription when it came into being in Ireland." He started hesitantly but there had never been any question of him refusing to answer, not with her. Nevertheless his kept his face hidden, his voice muffled and thick with emotion.

Sybil felt her throat tighten as the thought of 'it could have been him' entered into her mind but otherwise remained confused; he had so desperately wanted that to be him so why was he so upset about it being his brother.

"He caught a chill." Branson continued his fingers pressing against his head so hard that it looked painful and Sybil instinctively took one hand and pulled it away from his face keeping it in hers. They were looking at each now and a lump caught in her throat as she saw how miserable he looked. "And it escalated; they say nothing could be done but…"

He trailed off and Sybil felt a horrible cold come over her as she realised the implications. "He's not dead." She gasped and he nodded miserably.

"Last week; the funeral was today and I can't go." He burst out unconsciously clutching her hand tighter.

"I'm sure Papa would give you some time off; to go and be with your mother…" Sybil started already set on forcing her father to give way whether he liked it or not until she was interrupted.

"She's dead." His voice had softened again. "Just before I took the job here, my father died the year before her and my cousin was bloody murdered and now…" Sybil looked away the anguish in his features too much for her to bear and the realisation that he had no family too awful. Now she knew why he had avoided her question of whether his people would accept her, it wouldn't matter either way now.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered turning to look at him again and he lifted his head to meet her eyes for the first time that day.

"So am I." Branson closed his eyes briefly and reopened them her gaze still fixated on him. "I'm proud of him though."

"Of course you are." She knew how much he believed in the opposition to conscription and freedom of Ireland meant to him and what he said to her the other day was true, sometimes terrible sacrifices must be made to have a future worth having.

And if his brother had been a part of that sacrifice then of course he'd be proud, entirely miserable for a while and he'd miss his brother terribly but he'd be proud that he had died standing up for what he believed in and she wouldn't expect anything less.

"Are you going to be alright?" Sybil glanced between him and the house where she had promised her mother she'd help her sort something out with a new timetable for the convalescing officers. She wasn't the type of person to neglect her duties or break her promises especially to her mother who she loved dearly but she couldn't leave him if she wasn't sure he was going to do something stupid.

"I'll be fine milady." He attempted a small smile but it fell short and she looked completely unconvinced. "You should get back to your work." He tentatively nudged her with his knee.

"Bringing hot drinks to officers?" Sybil raised an eyebrow despite her heart aching for the man and her own feelings towards him becoming clearer by the second she couldn't quite let what he said about her work go.

"I didn't mean that milady." He admitted sheepishly. "I know you do good work and it means a lot to you. I was just…" He trailed off and the rest of the sentence hung in the air between them, the eye contact between them becoming more and more intense until finally Sybil looked away.

"I should go." She let go of his hand slowly and rose to her feet, him standing with her forcing her to take a step back so that their bodies weren't pressed together. He nodded and before she could change her mind she leant forward and kissed him on the cheek.

She stopped at the garage door and turned back to face him; he had his head leant against the car door watching her leave with a small smile on his face. "Do you think the war will be over soon?" she asked curiously.

"Can't much last longer." He sighed heavily and looked past her towards the house to the kitchen where most of the staff sat silently grieving for their loss.

"Good." She nodded. "Maybe then we can…" She trailed off and took a step to the right to shield herself from view as the groundskeeper stomped past without even acknowledging Branson who was sitting in plain view.

"Maybe we can?" He questioned as the footsteps died away and they both breathed a sigh of relief.

She blushed and for a moment he thought she was going to walk away ending their conversations much the same way as they had been for the past few months. "Maybe we can talk about us." She admitted slowly before ducking out of the garage and out of his sight.

It wasn't the outright declaration of love or decision to run away to be married that he had wanted but it was enough to give him hope. And he could live with that. For now.

**Conscription came into Ireland on 18****th**** April and there was much opposition to it. Therefore, it is not a huge stretch of the imagination to go slightly off canon and say that Branson's brother was able to carry out a protest like his brother wanted too and end up being arrested. With the medical care as it was back then especially for the poor and those in prison it is also not completely unrealistic to suggest that he died in this way. **

**Any mistakes are my own but I hope my proof-reading is alright but you never know! **

**Thanks for reading! **

**Tacxxx**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 **

**Disclaimer: ****I own nothing**

**Finished this just over an hour before the final episode! I have no idea what will happen then but hope to explore that too in another chapter. Thank you for those who encouraged me to write another chapter- I didn't think I could because well I'm pretty useless at writing something when I feel I have too or should so I'm very proud that I managed to finish this. This is what I think would happen in the immediate aftermath of the attempted elopement so- enjoy! **

"Do you love him then?" Anna paused by Sybil's bedroom door; the journey back to Downton had been silent and tense and upon arriving home Mary and Edith had disappeared into their own bedrooms with silent looks promising of a talk once they had slept.

Anna had followed Sybil into her room, helping her to unpack her things and hide any evidence of the attempted elopement in an uncomfortable silence neither sure of what to say but each with burning questions.

Anna had broken first desperate to try and understand. "Yes." Sybil answered firmly but thick with emotion and unshed tears. "More than anything. Do you think they'll ever understand?"

Anna bit her lip clearly unwilling to say anything against her employer and his family. "They might." She allowed finally. "If you truly love him…"

"I do." She burst out interrupting the maid and pressing her hand to her mouth to try and stop herself from dissolving into tears.

Anna smiled sympathetically at her. "I know you do." She crossed the room to Sybil's dresser and found her a handkerchief. "And they might see that eventually; you'll have to fight for him though."

"Of course I will." She nodded wiping away the few tears she had allowed to escape. "Will you help?" Anna bit her lip tentatively unwilling to commit herself to something that could possibly mean that she lost her job.

Sybil seemed to realise this. "Only if you feel you can; I don't want you getting into trouble as well."

Anna smiled softly at her. "You should get some sleep milady."

Sybil nodded. "You too Anna; thank you." Anna curtseyed and left her alone in the room to get some sleep before she faced the battle in the following days. She yawned and curled up under the covers before finally breaking into violent sobs, wondering what Tom was doing and whether he felt as lonely as she did.

"Sybil." Mary's arm shot out and grabbed her youngest sister by the arm dragging her none too violently into the spare room opposite Edith's bedroom. She sighed heavily and closed her eyes willing them to leave her alone to no avail.

Mary shut the door firmly behind her and joined Edith the two of them sitting on the bed and staring at their younger sister disapprovingly. Edith gestured to the end of the bed and Sybil reluctantly joined them, all three of them squished onto a bed that was not quite big enough for all of them.

They used to come into this room a lot when they were children, hiding from a nanny or governess or their parents while they played together or as they got older just sat and talked often with some food Mrs Patmore had helped them to sneak upstairs.

And then Mary and Edith stopped speaking or when they did it was very unpleasant and caused arguments which lasted for weeks. Only now for the first time in many years they were in agreement only not with her.

"You promised." Mary started; Sybil glanced at Edith wondering how much Mary had told her and how she had reacted to it. But Edith only nodded clearly having been filled in and if they had argued about Mary's prior knowledge then it was an argument that had been put behind them or at the very least put to one side.

"I promised not to do anything stupid." Sybil agreed leaning her head against the bedpost and looking tiredly at her sisters.

"So what was last night?" Edith raised her eyebrows. "Do we have different definitions of stupid?"

"I love him." It was the outburst she had been holding in since she woke up. She had expected to almost scream it at them to try and make them understand and listen to her but instead she spoke calmly and gently stating a simple fact.

"You don't know what love is." Edith dismissed with a wave of her hand.

Sybil sat up straight and glared at her. "Yes I do." The bite to her voice was back and she stared furiously at them annoyed that they were trivialising her feelings. "I've seen the way you look at Matthew." She accused Mary who blinked at her in surprise.

"And how you looked at Patrick or whoever he was." She turned to Edith. "It's the same way Tom looks at me and how I feel about him. I know I don't want to spend the rest of my life with some man Mama drags in. I want to work, do something with my life and I want to come home to Tom every evening because he's supportive and doesn't treat me as a child or a dumb woman and I love him."

She stopped her eyes flashing angrily at them and swallowed the lump in her throat. "But he's the chauffeur." Edith gasped scandalised.

"So?" She glared at them. "I know you too have both lost the man you love but I'm not going too especially not over something as stupid as different social classes." They both stared at her and she hoped it had made them drop the subject.

It hadn't. "Have you even thought about what it would do to Mama and Papa?" Mary accused.

"Of course." She blinked back tears her anger gone and replaced with hurt at the implication she had acted without even considering her family. "You have no idea how much I've thought about this." She paused and swallowed trying desperately not to cry. "I don't have to explain myself to you when you're clearly not even going to attempt to understand."

She shook her head and pushed herself off the bed looking at them one last time tears shining in her eyes as she desperately pleaded with them one last time to understand. But they showed no sign of giving in, only their own sadness and frustration written across their faces and she shook her head and slammed the door behind her.

"Anna." She caught the maid's arm stopping her from going into Mary's room with an armful of linen. "Has Tom brought the car back yet? Has anyone said anything downstairs?"

The maid shook her head an element of weariness in her features that spoke of tiredness stemming from frustration and her own problems not from a lack of sleep.

"The car's back milady." She nodded. "But I haven't seen Mr Branson all morning." Sybil smiled gratefully at her but scowled as the door down the corridor clicked open and her sisters emerged. A tense silence filled the space with no one knowing what to say until Mary and Edith broke first disappearing down the corridor towards the stairs.

"Were they as bad as you thought they'd be?" Anna asked hoping she wasn't overstepping her station.

Sybil sighed. "Yes." She admitted sadly; she had spent the previous night lying awake her thoughts alternating between thinking about Tom and what he was doing and feeling and wondering how the conversation with her sisters would go the next day. It had been every bit as horrible as she had thought.

"I'm sorry milady." Anna placed a sympathetic hand on Sybil's arm. "They'll come around." She spoke warmly but they both knew her words were only comforting neither truly believed that what she was saying would happen.

"Thank you Anna." Sybil found herself smiling properly for the first time that day. Just knowing that there was someone truly on her side who even if she could do nothing to help could at least lend a supportive ear and shoulder to cry on.

"Go and see if you can find him?" Anna urged her. "I think we both know him well enough to know that he's not always a man of rational thinking."

"True." Sybil acknowledged with a fond smile. "I don't particularly want him dropping a tureen of sludge on my father."

"It might not help your case." Anna agreed. "You might have your work cut out to persuade him that there are better ways of fighting for what you believe in."

"As long as he helps me fight." Sybil grinned feeling more and more confident as she spoke with the maid who was much more supportive than anyone in her family ever would be.

"Can you really see him not?" Anna shook her head as Sybil disappeared off down the corridor in search of the man she loved. There was hope for those two yet she decided and knowing them there probably always would be.

**Thank you for reading- please leave your thoughts or if you need anyone to fangirl excessively over Branson/Sybil then just PM or review! **

**Tacxxx **


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